WALNUT SHADE, Mo. (KY3) – Branson is known for its attractions.<\/p>\n
But just up Highway 65, there\u2019s another museum featuring a woman who\u2019s in four Halls of Fame and has been featured twice at the Smithsonian. <\/p>\n
In the rolling hills of northern Taney County, you\u2019ll find a road with some unique, smiling faces lining the drive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose are the Kewpie dolls,\u201d Connie Pritchard, the president of the Bonniebrook Historical Society, said.<\/p>\n
The Kewpies were the brainchildren of artist Rose O\u2019Neill. Her Historic Bonniebrook Homestead<\/a> sits on top of that Kewpie-lined road.<\/p>\n \u201cBonniebrook was always her respite,\u201d Connie said.<\/p>\n The Booniebrook Homestead<\/a> tells the rags-to-riches story of Rose, who was born in 1874 in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n She won an art contest at the age of 13. Despite judges thinking a little girl couldn\u2019t draw this on her own, she won a $5 gold coin.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the moment she won that $5 gold piece, she supported her family,\u201d Connie said.<\/p>\n For a family that faced 14 evictions before Rose\u2019s 20th birthday, art was a way out for them.<\/p>\n She became the first published female cartoonist in the United States. By the late 1800s, magazines were publishing her drawings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Puck hired her, that was a man\u2019s magazine,\u201d Connie said, \u201cand they said, \u2018You know, we want to hire you, but you\u2019re going to have to hide your identity.\u2019 So, she really trailblazed for women.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, the Kewpies came along. Her drawings became the first mass-produced toy.<\/p>\n She also used her name and talent to help the Women\u2019s Suffrage movement.<\/p>\n By 1924, she was worth $1.4 million.<\/p>\n \u201c(She was) the most sought-after and highest-paid illustrator of her time,\u201d Connie said. \u201cShe illustrated for Jell-O for 14 years, Rock Isle Railroad for 10, and every other kind of product in between.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite having an apartment in New York, a mansion in Connecticut, and a villa in Italy, Bonniebrook here in the Ozarks was home.<\/p>\n Today, a 10,000-square-foot visitors\u2019 center houses a large Kewpie collection and her fine art museum.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Smithsonian owns two of her originals,\u201d Connie added.<\/p>\n Click here to visit the Historic Bonniebrook Homestead Facebook page.<\/a><\/p>\n Behind the visitors\u2019 center is a replica of her Bonniebrook home. The original burned down in 1947.<\/p>\n The three-story house was built using the original homes blueprints. You can see the sitting rooms, a music parlor, bedrooms, and an indoor bathroom that featured the first flushing toilet in Taney County.<\/p>\n For Connie, this is a property neighbors her grandfather\u2019s.<\/p>\n \u201cMy grandfather\u2019s sister, Callie Keithley, who was my great-aunt, she actually became a living caretaker. She and my great uncle worked for Rose for 12 years.\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the items Rose gifted Connie\u2019s great-aunt fill the home today.<\/p>\n \u201cFast forward to 2026, asked me if I thought I\u2019d be here doing this? No,\u201d Connie joked. \u201cShould I have paid more attention to the family stories? Yes.\u201d<\/p>\n By the late 1930s, Rose\u2019s money was almost gone, and her last creation, the Ho-Ho doll, did not take off.<\/p>\n Rose died in 1944 and is buried just down a path from the home.<\/p>\n